
Photo by Albert Marrion, 17 Dec 1961
I sort of assume that everybody with more than a passing interest in the Beatles has heard the complete recording session held at Decca on New Year’s Day, 1962, but maybe you haven’t. It’s a day that lives in infamy, of course, because they didn’t get signed to a record contract. But the fact is, at that point they still sounded — and looked — like amateurs. Brian Epstein got them into suits in March, but they still needed the ear of somebody who could hear their potential. Listen and decide for yourself. Would you have heard the greatness that was missed by Decca?

